Written Answers Thursday 14 August 2008

Scottish Executive

Ambulance Service

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, following reports of failure to deep-clean ambulances, what steps have been taken to ensure that ambulances are deep-cleaned once a week.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Ambulance Service has national infection control policies in place, including a well defined cleaning and disinfection policy. Processes require that vehicles should have both a daily and a weekly clean and that the interior of the vehicle is wiped down after each patient. These practices are subject to regular audit and review.

  As I have made clear on many occasions, standard of cleanliness in all environments across the healthcare system remains a key focus of this government.

Ambulance Service

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what maximum response time is acceptable for ambulance call-outs (a) on the mainland and (b) in remote and island communities.

Nicola Sturgeon: The objective of the Scottish Ambulance Service is to respond to emergency calls as promptly and safely as possible and within a response time that meets the clinical needs of the individual patient.

  The time taken to respond is affected by a number of factors such as the condition and location of the patient, the nature of the emergency and the prevailing weather and road conditions. The ambulance service use recent data to predict where they are most likely to receive serious and life-threatening calls and to ensure resources are allocated in the most effective way to deliver a safe and efficient service across all parts of Scotland.

Diabetes

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been diagnosed with (a) type 1 and (b) type 2 diabetes in the Lothians region in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.

Shona Robison: The information requested is provided in the following tables. In each case, the year in question runs from July to July.

  

 East Lothian
 Type 1
 Type 2


 2003-04
 12
 285


 2004-05
 11
 298


 2005-06
 23
 257


 2006-07
 14
 293


 2007-08
 19
 258



  

 Edinburgh City
 Type 1
 Type 2


 2003-04
 82
 1,221


 2004-05
 85
 1,052


 2005-06
 84
 1,085


 2006-07
 107
 1,129


 2007-08
 86
 1,012



  

 Midlothian
 Type 1
 Type 2


 2003-04
 15
 310


 2004-05
 20
 256


 2005-06
 19
 242


 2006-07
 13
 237


 2007-08
 18
 256



  

 West Lothian
 Type 1
 Type 2


 2003-04
 35
 788


 2004-05
 42
 676


 2005-06
 28
 697


 2006-07
 37
 752


 2007-08
 31
 684



  Source: NHS Lothian Diabetes Managed Clinical Network.

Employment

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance it will offer to the employees of Langholm Dyeing Company who are being made redundant due to the company going into administration.

Jim Mather: The Scottish Government’s Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) initiative has been triggered and the local PACE team met with employees of Langholm Dyeing Company on Monday 4 August and Thursday 7 August. The meetings provided an opportunity for staff affected by the company’s recent announcement to obtain full details of the support, advice, guidance and retraining options available to help them access alternative employment opportunities. Staff that were unable to attend the meetings are being contacted by PACE and provided with similar details.

Higher Education

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many members of the governing bodies of Scottish higher education institutions are over the age of 70.

Fiona Hyslop: The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government. Matters such as the appointment criteria for members of governing bodies fall within the governance responsibilities of each individual higher education institution.

Higher Education

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive who will be represented on the tripartite advisory group announced in New Horizons: responding to the challenges of the 21st century , the interim report of the Joint Future Thinking Taskforce on Universities, and how those people will be chosen and appointed.

Fiona Hyslop: The taskforce members agreed that the tripartite advisory group will comprise representatives from the government, universities and the funding council. The taskforce did not prescribe how the individual members of the group would be chosen and appointed.

  Over the summer, stakeholders are being actively encouraged to contribute to the discussion of New Horizons before the taskforce meets again in September and considers how best to respond.

Higher Education

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has plans to offer staff or student representatives a place on the tripartite advisory group announced in New Horizons: responding to the challenges of the 21st century , the interim report of the Joint Future Thinking Taskforce on Universities.

Fiona Hyslop: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-15197 on 14 August 2008. The Taskforce has agreed to establish a tripartite advisory group comprising representatives from the government, universities and the funding council to provide advice on the proposed new funding arrangements as set out in the interim report, New Horizons . All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

  Staff and student representatives have a number of mechanisms and opportunities to provide advice to this government on higher education, such as the FE/HE Roundtable. We have also held two student summits to discuss a range of higher education issues.

  Over the summer, staff and student representatives and other stakeholders are being actively encouraged to contribute to the discussion of New Horizons before the taskforce meets again in September and considers how best to respond.

Higher Education

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what Scottish Funding Council activity it is considering cutting as part of the new lighter-touch approach to regulating universities announced in New Horizons: responding to the challenges of the 21st century , the interim report of the Joint Future Taskforce on Universities.

Fiona Hyslop: Following publication of New Horizons , John McClelland, Chair of the Scottish Funding Council, agreed to lead a review of the funding council’s processes and procedures in readiness for its future new role in relation to the governance of and funding policies for our universities. It is therefore the Scottish Funding Council that will be considering this matter and making proposals rather than the Scottish Government.

Higher Education

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what funds it has assigned to independently research whether universities’ publicly-funded activity makes a significant contribution to achieving the Scottish Government’s Purpose, as referred to in New Horizons: responding to the challenges of the 21st century , the interim report of the Joint Future Thinking Taskforce on Universities.

Fiona Hyslop: New Horizons is clear that universities should demonstrate through robust evidence "how their activities align closely with the Government’s Purpose and Strategic Objectives."

  The Scottish Government has not directly assigned any funds to independent research on whether universities’ publicly-funded activity makes a significant contribution to our purpose.

Higher Education

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-14677 by Shona Robison on 18 July 2008, what effect the July review of mileage rates payable by the Scottish Ambulance Service to volunteer drivers has had on rates.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Ambulance Service has advised that, following the July review of mileage rates, they remain satisfied that the current rates cover costs. They will, however, continue to review this on a monthly basis and will amend the rates should this become appropriate.

Hospital-Acquired Infection

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many deaths have occurred as a result of clostridium difficile in NHS Lothian in the last year, broken down by hospital.

Nicola Sturgeon: The General Register for Scotland (GROS) collects information on the number of deaths which have occurred as a result of clostridium difficile in Scotland on an annual basis, by NHS board and by hospital. The full information for 2007 has not yet been published by GROS. However, information from December 2007 to May 2008 was published in the Report on the Review of Clostridium Difficile Associated Disease Cases and Mortality , and can be found on the Health Protection Scotland (HPS) website.

  Information for NHS Lothian, for the number of deaths recorded where clostridium difficile was the underlying cause from December 2007 to May 2008 is provided in the following table:

  Number of Deaths Resulting from C-Diff in NHS Lothian Hospital

  

 
 Year


 December 2007 to May 2008


 Astley Ainslie Hospital
 -


 Corstorphine Hospital
 -


 Ellen’s Glen House
 -


 Findlay House
 -


 Liberton Hospital
 -


 Royal Hospital for Sick Children
 -


 Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
 1


 Royal Victoria Hospital, Edinburgh
 -


 St John’s Hospital
 3


 Western General Hospital
 2


 Total
 6



  Source: Report on Review of Clostridium Difficile Associated Disease Cases and Mortality (July 2008).

Ministerial Visits

Margo MacDonald (Lothians) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-14434 by Linda Fabiani on 14 July 2008, whether a minute of the meeting was taken which might be accessed by MSPs and constituents.

Linda Fabiani: This was an informal, introductory discussion of which no minute was taken.

NHS Funding

Jim Hume (South of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what role small local hospitals play in rural areas and whether it will safeguard future funding for the services they provide.

Nicola Sturgeon: The report, Delivering for Remote and Rural Healthcare , published by Scottish Government in 2008, recognised the important role of Community Hospitals as a resource hub providing a range of core services, including enhanced diagnostics and integrating and co-locating services provided by other related organisations. Further details can be found in the chapter "Improving the Patient Experience of Remote Primary Care", pages 9 to 19. The full report is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 45640).

  As far as funding is concerned, it is the responsibility of NHS boards to plan and provide health care services to meet the assessed needs of their resident populations.

NHS Funding

Jim Hume (South of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will preserve the service provided by the NHS to rural communities that may lose out under the implementation of the new NHS Scotland Resource Allocation Committee funding formula.

Nicola Sturgeon: Under the implementation of the NHS Scotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) funding formula all boards will receive a standard increase in funds each year with those boards currently below NRAC formula target given additional funds to move them towards their NRAC target share of resources. No board will lose any funding.

  Delivering for Remote and Rural Healthcare establishes a framework for sustainable health care in remote and rural Scotland.

  The report proposes a focus on sharing skills and expertise across communities and on improving links between different types of health care. In particular, it recommends that Community and Rural General hospitals should work more closely with specialists in larger centres and that greater use should be made of new technologies that help practitioners to share their knowledge.

  The emerging model of care will be supported with educational packages specifically developed for remote and rural practitioners, improved support networks with larger centres and technology, transport and retrieval systems.

Public Buildings

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what records it maintains of public buildings, including schools, that were constructed with the use of asbestos and if this information (a) has been or (b) will be made available to the public.

Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government does not hold information on the incidence of asbestos in schools or other public buildings. The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2006 place a duty on those with responsibilities for buildings to manage the risk from asbestos. In the case of schools that would be the local authority.

Royal Mail

Cathy Peattie (Falkirk East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what contact it has had with the UK Government regarding the Royal Mail Group or its subsidiaries since May 2007 and what issues were raised through that contact.

Jim Mather: The Cabinet Secretary for Finance & Sustainable Growth met the independent regulator for the postal market, Postcomm, the Postal Services Commission, in September 2007, when he invited Postcomm to adopt a more robust, long-term stance in opposition to zonal pricing.